Finding Our Bearings
by Elin B
Summary: Nami and Usopp making sure they’re really there. Set after Enies Lobby and before Thriller Bark, this is basically post-reunion pairing fluff. Mildly suggestive.


SPOILERS/SETTING: After Water 7/Enies Lobby but before Thriller Bark. Spoliers for the end of the former arc

AUTHOR'S NOTES: for the purpose of this fic, assume some kind of physically intimate relationship between Nami and Usopp prior to Water 7, though probably not yet a sexual one.

Betaed by Tonko, who did a great job as always.

DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of One Piece were created and are owned by the truly one-of-a-kind mangaka Eiichiro Oda. They are used here without permission. This fanfic was written for entertainment only and is not to be used for profit.

Finding Our Bearings

A One Piece fanfic by Elin B

Nami is not a one-woman welcoming committee, and there are five or six other claimants to consider. So she makes herself hang back and wait, during those first few days out from Water 7. Or at least, she doesn't pounce on Usopp and drag him away in front of everybody.

He seems busy enough anyway, what with Luffy being practically glued to him most of the time, Franky showing him all around the new ship explaining its various super functions, Sanji hauling him into the galley - ostensibly for dishwashing duties but apparently the cook needs help with taste-testing cookies, too – and Chopper following around asking to see old tricks, eyes hopeful for boastful stories that Usopp doesn't seem quite ready to offer just yet.

And even when he's simply trying out his new branch office, i.e., the small workbench on third deck right next to her tangerine trees, Robin just happens to look after her new flower-bed a few meters away. Or Zoro's sleeping right nearby, and maybe that would be okay, except Nami suspects not all of Zoro's conveniently placed naps are as genuine as they appear.

Finally, on the third night, it's Robin's turn to take the watch in the crow's nest, leaving her roommate alone in the girls' cabin. Nami makes the time pass by going over her old charts, but hardly gives them her full attention. Eventually she judges it's time to go, and slips out of there quietly.

She has no real idea on where to go and at first just strolls around aimlessly on deck. She can't see anybody else around – maybe the boys have all gone to bed already. It's gone quite dark by now. Nami rather appreciates the small lanterns that are hung here and there – they don't give that much light, but make it easier to avoid tripping and falling over things.

Her feet wind up taking her forward to the prow. She walks up to Sunny's figurehead, adjusts the lantern hanging askew down on its back, then leans her elbows on the railing. Gray waves are splashing against the hull below her: above and in front of her, the sky is a deep dark blue, the horizon vanished. After the rather balmy afternoon, the night air is pleasantly cool and clear, with just a sharp little tinge to it that promises colder weather to come.

"Huh. There you are."

Nami turns her head, surprised. Usopp's shoes are big, clunky, bootlike. Normally she'd be able to hear their approach on deck; yet there he is, standing at the top of the stairs with his hands in his pockets, looking over at her, his head to one side. Either he's acquired some super sneaky ninja techniques lately, or she's been unusually spaced out, right now.

"Well, yeah," she says. "I'm just taking the air." She smiles at him, just a little slyly.

"Uh. Same here," he says, scuffing the boards with his toes. "Just, y'know. Couldn't sleep yet, so…"

"Guess it gets pretty stuffy in the boys' cabin sometimes," says Nami. She gives him a little sideways nod of the "come here if you want to" variety, before turning her head back towards the dark sea and sky. Her fingers go back and forth on the railing, expecting small weathered lines in the wood that aren't there.

"Um, yeah, I guess," mutters Usopp, then adds,"…I don't mind, though, I mean it's not…" This time she hears him when he walks up right next to her; now his stepsare pretty slow and careful. "Just…" he clears his throat, "just wanted to get some fresh air." Like her, he leans his elbows on the railing, looking down at the water.

"I'm still trying to get used to this ship," Nami hears herself saying. "To Sunny. It's so neat, I like it so much already, but… my feet, they haven't quite learned they're supposed to be here, yet." Now she draws small spirals and circles in the wood on the railing, tiny invisible figures. "In my head I know it, of course," she goes on. "And I think… I think in my heart, too, because we're all here… we're sailing again…" Her cheeks get warm and she feels self-conscious. "But it's like the rest of me hasn't caught up yet," she finishes, glancing both up and down at the great figurehead to her right, so much bigger than Merry's ramshead.

Usopp nods. "It's not… it's not very easy," he says after a short while, in a low voice that's almost a whisper. Then he clears his throat and adds, "I'm… I've been doing that, too. Trying to get to know Sunny better. Or at least… well… I dunno." He twirls his fingers uncertainly. Nami finds herself holding her breath and tries to relax and breathe more calmly again, as unobtrusively as she can.

"…Never mind, I guess," Usopp finishes with a sigh, then straightens up a bit. "Anyway… so, Fishman Island, huh?" He gives her a cautious glance. "That's where we're going, right?"

"Yeah," says Nami simply.

"How, uh…" he looks at her from the corner of his eye, "…how d'you feel about that, Nami? Isn't that kinda… d'you think it would be hard for you, I mean?"

She draws a deep breath. "I'll be all right. It's not like all fishmen are pirates, I don't think. And, well, if it really is a bad place… we can handle it. We took on Enies Lobby and won. We can handle _anything_. I'm not worried, as long as… I'm just not worried."

_As long as we're all together_, was what she'd wanted to say but didn't. It seems unnecessary and maybe even a little wrong. Not the feeling, but stating it out loud, as if there's any question about that any more.

"Well. Yeah. Uh. Good. I just wanted to know – I mean, if it's okay with you, 'course it's fine with me too," he assures her, drumming his fingers in nervous rhythm against the railing.

"Anyway… it will be a while yet before we get there," says Nami peacefully. She holds the log pose up and forward, leaning it out over the railing as if expecting the Thousand Sunny to follow even though it can't, being anchored for the night.

And before they can get to Fishman Island, they will have to cross the Florian Triangle, but she doesn't want to bring that up right now. It would only spoil the mood and scare Usopp needlessly, besides reminding her of rumoured ghosts and creepy monsters and other weird stuff she really doesn't want to run into. Though it's true that if they get a treasure out of it, it might be worth the fear.

"Nami." That's all he says, only her name, and very quietly. He reaches out his hand slowly towards her left wrist, at first only touching the log pose itself, then tentatively lets his fingers slide over to Nojiko's bracelet, her wrist, the back of her hand… His touch is very light at first, almost feathery.

She turns her hand over, silently inviting him to keep going. His finger traces the lines of her palm softly, up into the wrist - which tickles her just a bit; she's forced to bite back a giggle – then down again, over the base of her fingers, making tiny circles on her skin.

_Tell me my fortune_. She'd said that, once, the same day they reached Jaya, hours before they made land. And he'd held her hand and spun ever more elaborate and ridiculous predictions, while she urged him to make them as gilded and bejewelled as possible. It feels like ages ago. It feels like just the other day.

His hand moves further, going up her wrist, fingering the log pose and the bracelet again, up the lower arm, then past the elbow. A few times, he stops millimetres short of contact and only draws shapes in the air, which makes the hairs on her arm rise. He moves on to her upper arm and shoulder, tracing the lines of her tattoo.

Like always, his movements can't be called smooth or confident, no, they're hesitant, tentative and fumbling, too hasty in one moment and then suddenly stop the next. Yet like always, they're too dextrous and sensitive to be clumsy; most of all, they just feel so utterly natural and right, being there. They feel as if they're supposed to be there. She gives a contented small sigh, leaning into him.

Usopp's expression is… difficult to put in words. Cautious and focused but not controlled or wary, it seems curious and trusting and... attentive. It's almost as if he expects her to feel vastly different now than from just a few weeks ago. _Well. I have grown stronger_, Nami allows. Maybe most of that comes from her upgraded weapon, but not all of it.

But she wants to touch too and not just feel. At first she holds herself back, her touch as light and cautious as his, maybe even more so. _Better not scare him away_. Under his overall straps she feels the shape of his shoulder blades. So skinny still, and yet… she remembers supporting him when he'd been wounded in the battle with Kuro, trying to get them away to the sidelines. He feels so much stronger now. All wounds seem to be healed, all bandages gone, leaving only the barest of scars. They've come a long way.

"Nami," he says again, his voice stronger now, and slower.

"Yeah," she says simply, pressing just a little closer, breathing him in. There's an unfamiliar chemical smell to him in addition to the normal gunpowder one, she notes, wondering for a moment what weird new attack he might be working on now.

"Missed you," he mumbles.

And then she does hug him, hard. She can't help it. _That's my line, dummy…_

But Usopp doesn't seem scared. He hugs her right back, then moves a fraction to kiss her ear, the tip of his long nose touching the side of her neck just so – she takes a sharp deep breath, feeling tension pass from her in waves. _I'm here now, see, can you feel it? Are you here too?_ ...That's what her body's trying to say, and it's what she's reading from him too.

She shivers from a sudden night breeze at her back. "Ch-chilly," she mutters.

"Yep." Usopp breathes the word in: Nami feels his shoulders trembling. "Shoulda brought a coat."

She raises an eyebrow. "You mean I should've, or you?"

"You, 'cos you'd just make me give you my coat, anyway." He grins at her.

"Well, isn't that knightly of you." She gives him a mock-flat look, then snuggles closer. Sheesh, it really is getting cold.

"Let's go inside," she suggests, starting to move. She catches Usopp blushing deeply before they get away from the lantern light. That makes her smile (though her own cheeks are warm as well), before she tells him in a whisper that she just meant they go to the galley for a midnight snack. But actually she figures they might well wind up in the girls' cabin later. Robin still has the watch, after all.

She holds his hand as they walk down the steps.


End file.
